{"id":238506,"date":"2026-06-29T07:15:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T11:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/29\/mastercard-launches-africa-cybersecurity-center-to-strengthen-digital-trust\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T07:25:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T11:25:07","slug":"mastercard-launches-africa-cybersecurity-center-to-strengthen-digital-trust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/29\/mastercard-launches-africa-cybersecurity-center-to-strengthen-digital-trust\/","title":{"rendered":"Mastercard Launches Africa Cybersecurity Center to Strengthen Digital Trust"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mastercard Launches Africa Cybersecurity Center to Strengthen Digital Trust<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/techafricanews.com\/2026\/06\/29\/mastercard-launches-africa-cybersecurity-center-to-strengthen-digital-trust\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-06-29 07:15:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: techafricanews.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Author: <\/a><\/p>\n

Using an unordered list, summarize the following article with between 4 and 8 key points. <\/p>\n

This initiative follows through on commitments made in recent discussions with the Nigerian Government in Abuja, and the South African Government during last year\u2019s G20 meetings in Johannesburg, to strengthen cybersecurity efforts in Africa.<\/p>\n

Mastercard\u00a0 announced the launch of its Africa Cybersecurity Center of Excellence, a pan-African initiative designed to strengthen cyber resilience, enhance collaboration and help safeguard the trust that underpins Africa\u2019s expanding digital economy.
\nThe announcement was made during a visit to South Africa and Nigeria by Mastercard CEO, Michael Miebach, reflecting Mastercard\u2019s long-term commitment to supporting Africa\u2019s digital transformation by helping organizations anticipate, withstand and recover from increasingly sophisticated cyber threats. The Cybersecurity Center of Excellence extends Mastercard\u2019s expertise and network, bringing global competence and intelligence to one of the world\u2019s fastest-growing digital economies.
\nThis initiative follows through on commitments made in recent discussions with the Nigerian Government in Abuja, and the South African Government during last year\u2019s G20 meetings in Johannesburg, to strengthen cybersecurity efforts in Africa.
\n\u201cWe recognize that for digitization to be inclusive, it must be trusted and secure. Mastercard has long been a trusted partner to South Africa, and its Cybersecurity Centre of Excellence is a welcome step to build on that foundation, drawing on the country\u2019s best and brightest to meet a challenge no government or company can solve alone.\u201d
\n\u2013 His Excellency, Cyril Ramaphosa, President, South Africa
\n\u201cAs Nigeria deepens its digital transformation, secure and trusted systems will be critical to inclusion and growth. We welcome collaborations that strengthen our digital economy and build resilience for the future.\u201d
\n\u2013 His Excellency, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, President, Nigeria
\nAs digital adoption accelerates across Africa, cybersecurity has become an imperative for economic growth. No single organization can face today\u2019s cyber threats alone. The Africa Cybersecurity Center of Excellence has been established to support the strengthening of collective defense across the continent by bringing together financial institutions, public sector organizations and businesses to share intelligence, improve preparedness, anticipate threats earlier and build resilience over time.
\n\u201cAfrica is dynamic, fast-growing, and ready to scale its digital future. That won\u2019t happen without trust. People don\u2019t use what they don\u2019t trust. That makes cybersecurity foundational to driving economic resilience and growth across the continent. By doing more to connect public and private sector efforts and share best practices, we can strengthen collective defense and secure a more confident and inclusive digital economy.\u201d
\n\u2013 Michael Miebach, CEO, Mastercard
\nAs Africa\u2019s digital economy is projected to reach $1.5 trillion by 2030, the need for greater collaboration has never been more urgent. Cybercrime across Africa is rising sharply, resulting in significant economic losses each year, with only an estimated 35% of incidents officially reported. This underreporting is driven by cyber maturity gaps, limited detection capabilities, and reputational concerns, thus creating a fragmented view of the threat landscape and weakening coordinated response efforts across the region. South Africa is the continent\u2019s most targeted market, accounting for around 29% of ransomware attacks and 40% of phishing incidents in Africa, while Nigeria ranks among the most affected markets for ransomware and dark-web threat activity.
\nThe multi-year initiative will be led by Mastercard and. it will begin a phased rollout in 2026. Starting with South Africa and Nigeria, through this collective model, it is intended to support the strengthening of cyber resilience and preparedness and enable more secure digital growth across Africa.
\nOperating as a pan\u2011African hub delivered through connected digital platforms and capabilities, the Center will help participating organisations gain greater visibility into emerging threats. This includes a first\u2011year ecosystem cyber risk analysis covering up to 50 organisations, alongside access to an Africa\u2011focused threat intelligence feed developed by Recorded Future, a Mastercard company. Through collaboration among CISOs, business leaders and security practitioners \u2013 enabled by secure information\u2011sharing, joint exercises and coordinated response \u2013 the Center will strengthen a more connected and resilient cybersecurity ecosystem across Africa.
\nThe Center of Excellence is designed to evolve over time, expanding its capabilities as market needs develop. At the heart of the initiative are three core pillars:<\/p>\n

Threat intelligence & strategic insights: Providing participating organizations with Africa-focused threat intelligence, including cybersecurity intelligence assessments across Africa and a shared view of risks.
\nCollaboration & knowledge sharing: Bringing together CISOs, senior business leaders and security teams to support enhanced collective response capabilities and advance cybersecurity best practices across industries.
\nReadiness & resilience: Helping organizations anticipate emerging threats through ongoing risk monitoring, resilience assessments, and scenario-based exercises designed to strengthen response and recovery capabilities.<\/p>\n

The launch of the Africa Cybersecurity Center of Excellence represents the next chapter in Mastercard\u2019s broader mission to build trust in the digital economy. The company has invested more than $12.6 billion in cybersecurity innovation since 2018 and has supported the launch of more than 20 cybersecurity-focused startups. This marks a further step in Mastercard\u2019s evolution from a payments network to a trusted technology and cyber intelligence partner, supporting the strengthening of cyber resilience across Africa and enabling secure, inclusive and sustainable digital growth.
\nBy working alongside governments, financial institutions and businesses of all sizes, including SMEs, Mastercard intends to help strengthen the digital foundations that underpin inclusive growth. By investing in capabilities that address the continent\u2019s evolving realities, Mastercard seeks to support the development of a more secure and resilient digital future across the markets in which it operates.
\n\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Mastercard Launches Africa Cybersecurity Center to Strengthen Digital Trust https:\/\/techafricanews.com\/2026\/06\/29\/mastercard-launches-africa-cybersecurity-center-to-strengthen-digital-trust\/ Publish Date: 2026-06-29 07:15:00 Source…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":238507,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/techafricanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mastercard-9.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[24,25],"class_list":["post-238506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cybersecurity","tag-cybersecurity","tag-phishing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238506"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238506"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238506\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":238508,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238506\/revisions\/238508"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}